2017 Bowman Platinum fat pack breaks

I hadn't seen these Walmart exclusive cards all year long and I assumed the display box put out in the card section with a set number of fat packs, value boxes and collector's boxes - were either wiped out as soon as they were stocked on the shelvesor just never made it to the few Walmarts I kept hitting up.

People who looked to resell on eBay saw Bowman Platinum as the equivalent of 2017 Bowman Mega Boxes available at Target - especially when the Mega Boxes were pulled due to some undisclosed 'snafu' and were hard to find.

Bowman Platinum are nice looking cards because they are shiny and modern but not quite the definitive product collectors chase year after year - however the Aaron Judge / Cody Bellinger rookie hype drove current year products to new heights as far as demand.

On a random Walmart stop, I finally saw a couple of loose packs - people may have moved on already, but I still hadn't seen this year's cards up close, so I had to get the two lousy packs in my grubby hands.

Pack one
#49 Giancarlo Stanton
#41 Andrew McCutchen
#66 Craig Kimbrel
#40 Jon Lester
#72 Alex Reyes
#62 Reynaldo Lopez

#RR-AJ Aaron Judge - Rookie Radar insert

#TP-BR Blake Rutherford - Exclusive Prospect card
#TP-ZC Zack Collins
#TP-AK Alex Krilloff
#TP-VR Victor Robles

#TP-JJO Jahmai Jones

Pack two
#51 Matt Strahm
#24 Trevor Story
#10 Aledmys Diaz
#48 Freddie Freeman
#15 Gregory Polanco
#53 Nolan Arenado
#RR-JC Jharel Cotton - Rookie Radar insert
#TP-JJ Joe Jimenez - Exclusive Prospect card
#TP-RR Raudy Read
#TP-FW Forrest Whitley
#TP-KT Kyle Tucker
#TP-MKO Michael Kopech

Featured autograph - Jahmai Jones

Jones, a 19-year old Angels outfield prospect was promoted to Inland Empire 66ers and I was able to get him to sign a couple of cards - before his first game in the California League.

Assorted Angels prospects pick ups

The Major League team is mostly down with the exception of Mike Trout and the farm system is barren - perhaps there aren't a handful of 'future Angels' to latch onto before they reach the Major Leagues.

After the Angels drafted Matt Thaiss 16th overall in this year's amateur draft, I searched for some early cards of him and it looked like he had some USA baseball cards - I picked up what I assumed to be a patch card sight unseen and while I didn't know what I was getting, in-hand, this card looks pretty sweet with the noticeable patch piece and also the camo jersey material.

Jahmai Jones is an 18-year old outfielder who was the Angels' second round pick in 2015 - he was drafted out of high school, so while an 'athlete' perhaps, it may take him time to gradually climb through the minors as opposed to a guy who ends up on the fast track.